The 80s offer a never-ending supply of slasher films that really run the gambit of quality. Everyone chasing their cut of the profits from this booming business.
The sleepy rural town of Paddock County in NorCal is a forgettable stop on anyone’s journey. Nothing much happens here. Everyone knows everyone else. There’s fishing on the scenic lake and that is about it. That is until a gruesome murder of a nurse happens one day while she is in a drive-through car wash. Suddenly the whole town is full of excitement and danger.
Gerald is a bit of a loner and a computer nerd to boot. He’s currently staying in a rented cabin on Brocks land. Gerald and his friend Richard go out one morning to investigate a smell at the local bar. Richard is an exterminator and has brought along Gerald to help him literally sniff out the root of the foul odor in the building. What they find in their little investigation is yet another dead body. The local sheriff wants to have it ruled a suicide. He doesn’t want his town making the news, and more so doesn’t want the folks residing in the county to worry about something he thinks it isn’t… a serial killer on the loose. Unfortunately for the sheriff and the town, more bodies turn up, and with them even more questions.
I’ve never heard of this movie before. It wasn’t on any lists I’ve read. I’ve never seen it talked about. However, this is kinda low-key a great movie. Cashing in on the slasher boom of the late 70s and early 80s Edge of the Axe is a simple story but it’s one that is done very well. Not a lot of special effects, not even a lot of gore to be had at all apart from some blood trails and rubber body parts. The setting is one like a ton of others. Set in the woods of some nowheresville town with a population of at most a couple hundred folks. I can see why it would be easily overlooked, but honestly, it shouldn’t be.
What this movie does well, and maybe to a fault, is misdirection. Almost everyone in the movie is a red herring and the film had me guessing literally up until the end. I could see several different reasons why any of the cast could have been the killer, and right up until the reveal, I had no clue who it actually could have been. Sure once it was revealed it felt a little shady as to how A connected to B and so forth, but within the confines of the movie’s plot/setting it all made sense. Even the ending was pretty well thought out. I don’t think there has ever been a sequel produced, but there could have been.
I think I can confidently put this one in the recommended category. I’m sure I’m not the only one that has never heard of it, and it probably deserves to be seen by more folks out there. So go ahead and have a wack at this one and see what you think.
Comments